Bio
Born in 1954 in Haiti, Mr. Jean-Bart relocated at the age of 13 to New York in 1967. Eight years later Leslie received a BA in American History in 1976 as well as a Master degree in Journalism in 1977 from Columbia University. Introduced to photography at Columbia University during a trip to Africa, Leslie was immediately intrigued and a 25 year career in photography as a freelance, commercial photographer followed. In addition to developing a successful business, Leslie received many awards for book and cover art he had contributed to. It was while working at Sotheby’s and then Christie’s that Leslie says his formal education in the arts began. Citing the full access to different media of arts, and surrounded by masterpieces from the greatest artists of our times he took complete advantage of the exposure to learn.

Leslie has had a solo exhibition at Xavier University of Louisiana in 2016 and has been invited to exhibit in group exhibitions, notably, at the Brooklyn Museum in 2000, Atlanta Photography Group (Atlanta) in 2016 & 2015, The Center for Fine Art Photography (Colorado) in 2015, Wilmer Jennings Gallery (NYC) in 2015, Monique Goldstrom Gallery in Soho in 2000 and 2001 and at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in 2001.  Leslie’s work can be found in collections locally, and he lives in New York City

Reality & Imagination

In this series, I photograph the tide as visual metaphor to explore the dynamic interaction takes place between cultures when one lives permanently in a foreign land.

The cultures automatically interact in a motion that is instantly fluid and turbulent, just as the sand and tide. It’s a constant movement in unison where each always retains its distinctive characteristics. This creates a duality that is always present. Each of the sections of ‘Reality & Imagination’ explores this cultural duality. Part of the section ‘Silhouette & Shadow’ presented here gives an actual shape to the two cultures as silhouette & shadow, which are both entities that cannot exist without the presence of another. The series has provided me with the understanding that at every point I have the opportunity to act by choosing from within the structures of one of the two cultures what would serve best at the moment.

The current climate towards immigrants in the US and the present migrant situation in Europe shows that the turbulent interaction between the duality created by the mix of the two cultures does not only manifest itself within the foreign individual but also within that foreign society. The constant intermingling of that duality is ever there